By 3 News staff
As insurance delays continue to leave many Christchurch residents upset and frustrated, the Christchurch City Council has unanimously decided to ask the Government for help.
The council wants an insurance tribunal set up in the city, to help struggling homeowners with their earthquake-related claims.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker
“I think they’re coming up against what appears to be an impenetrable wall of bureaucracy between the insurers and EQC.”
He says the issues are overwhelming for people.
“These are massive claims affecting the houses people live in, you add to that confusion around understanding of soil types and insurance going ahead. There’s a raft of issues and ordinary people feel really powerless in the face of something which just seems too massive, too difficult in this climate.”
Mr Parker says the people need support from the council.
“The council feels very strongly that we can help to advocate both with central government and with the insurance industry, potentially through the insurance ombudsmen to come together to help people through a tough time.”
He says an advisory service might be more useful than a tribunal.
“A tribunal could only really be useful in areas where there’s conflict and there is an insurance tribunal available at the moment.
“This is a complex process and you think of the elders in our community in part many of them living alone often without a family around them they find it really difficult to know who to believe, to understand the difficulties in the process.”
He says he is not blaming EQC or the insurance companies for the delays and confusion.
“I just think it’s an incredibly complex situation, a lot of transactions, it doesn’t seem to move forward quickly.”
Watch the video for the full interview
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